Please be nice and review my story. This is my first Fic, so I would love if you could please review! Please no flames, but if you must, make it constructive criticism! I will bake you lots of cookies!!!

This is a story on the Salmalin Family, Numair, Daine, Sarralyn and Rikash. I have read Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, Protector of the Small, and The Trickster series. I believe that after all of my calculations (which may not be that good because I hate math) I believe that all of these characters have most of these characteristics. If I have miscalculated, please let me know (nicely). R&R and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Tamora Pierce owns all of these characters, except Alec and Catharin and those you don't recognize. If I owned these people, I wouldn't be writing on Fan Fiction!

Sarra Salmalin slowly shut the creaky door to the top of the Astrologer's Tower. It was just before dawn, and nobody knew she was gone. She would hate to know what would happen if her parents, Daine and Numair found out. Sarra had made her way through the halls of the palace quietly, wrapped in nothing but a large blanket. Now, being up here in the crisp morning air with nothing but the sounds of nature around her, the place truly became magical. Sarra stepped up onto the wide railing. She peered over the edge, following the contour of the stone walls all the way to the bottom, a looong ways away. Sarra took a deep breath, let the blanket fall to her feet, and dove off of the railing like one would dive into a pond. She arched her back to make her fall faster, and more exciting. Just before hitting the ground, Sarra willed her arms into wings, her feet into claws, and her eyes for an eagle's excellent ones. She shot out above the ground, heading out over the city.

This was her favorite time of day. Sarra would always do this in the morning; it was like her form of meditation, a time to think, instead of not thinking of anything. Soaring over the larger part of Corus, she saw a few street vendors starting to set out their wares. Looking over to the east, she saw that the sun was starting to peek out behind the hills. Better turn back. Sarra thought wistfully. I'd hate to get a lecture before breakfast. Beating her wings as fast as they would go, she raced back to the palace. She transformed back into her human self in record time. Sarra ran down the hall at breakneck speed, hoping that this was one of the days her father decided to sleep in. Please Great Goddess, let everyone be asleep. Skidding to a stop in front of the Salmalin quarters, Sarra slowly creaked open the door, thankful that her parent's chambers were on the other end of the living room. Shutting the door behind her, she leapt into bed, hoping her absence had gone unnoticed.

After about five minutes of lying in silence, Sarra decided that the coast was clear, and she best get up for the day. She slid on her breeches and a shirt, before turning to look at herself in her mirror.

At 5'5", she was about average for her age of 13. Unruly dark brown curls framed her soft face. All of the palace pages and squires often looked at her, especially Alec. Alec had been one of her best friends for as long as she could remember. He was the son of a palace servant who had died during childbirth. King Jon and Queen Thayet had decided that he needed a home, so he went to live with the other servants until he was old enough to train for knighthood. The thing that made everybody stare at Sarra though, was the eyes. A bright, piercing turquoise, they were the same color as her magical Gift, which she had an overabundance of. The Gift wasn't the only magic that ran through her veins, however. Thanks to her mother, Veralidaine Sarrasri Salmalin, the Wildmage of Tortall, she had wild magic. Wild Magic ran through everything in nature. It gave Sarra the ability to shapeshift, and to speak and heal animals. Her Gift was inherited from her father, Numair Salmalin, the most powerful mage in Tortall. As of recent, Numair was doing a million tests a day, or so it seemed. Her father was afraid of the fact that Sarra's Gift was too overwhelming, and didn't seem to understand the fact that Sarra was nearly reaching his massive amount of power with their Gifts.

Her brother, Rikash was a very interesting boy. He was only 11, but he seemed to think he owned the world. Sarra often felt sad for him, he was always surrounded by powerful mages, and he had the Gift, but it was a small amount. He also had Wild Magic, but he couldn't shapeshift or talk to animals. Sarra knew that he was often sad, and so she often tried to cheer him up. Their dragon, Skysong would often be found by Rikash's side.

A sound in the other room shook Sarra out of her daze. She walked out of her room, and came face-to-face with her mother. Daine looked oddly wide awake, her not being a morning person.

"Why do you seem so wide awake?" Sarra asked her mother suspiciously. "Oh Horse Lords," Sarra whispered. "Is it another breakfast meeting?" she asked, praying the answer would be no.

"Luck isn't on our side today honey," was Daine's reply. "The king is welcoming the new pages and there is a big meeting during breakfast.

Sarra groaned. Had it already been three weeks? Then again, she thought remorsefully, Da has been keeping me in his workroom all hours of the day running an immeasurable number of tests. "Does Da know?" Sarra asked. "Cause if not he'll be a wreck if he has to give some sort of a welcoming speech."

Daine smiled, knowing full well that Numair was not known for remembering any sort of important events. "He knows," she addressed Sarra. "at least he knew at dinner last night. He may have forgotten in that short amount of time though.

Sarra laughed to herself. Her family was definitely the most peculiar one she had ever known. Then again, may all the gods and goddesses in the Divine Realms help you if you ever do something to harm one of us.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarra clapped politely for what seemed like the 9,645,921 time. The new pages were being announced to the court, and the line of them still didn't seem to have shrunk in size. She was seated next to her mother, which to the left of was her father, and then all of the people up until King Jon and Queen Thayet. While sitting tall and making sure to keep a pleasant look on her face, Sarra studied her parents, for some reason still enthralled that she was finally old enough to sit up at the big table with her parents.

Daine sat up straight, smiling at each of the passing pages. Her light brown curls framed her soft face, and her blue-gray eyes dazzled and twinkled. To her left sat Numair Salmalin, who scared most of the pages, if not by his Gift than by his immense height of six-and-a-half feet. His long, thick wavy black hair had been tied down at his neck, and for the moment was keeping his full locks in place. To Sarra and all people who were able to use their Gift to read people's aura's, Numair was surrounded by a thin aura of sparkling black fire, his Gift. Sarra, now officially bored with this whole ceremony looked at her hands, laced with her sparkling turquoise Gift. When she looked up again, the line of pages had diminished quite drastically. Finally! Sarra thought. I have better things to do than sit at a boring breakfast anyways.

Daine turned her heads slightly to look at Sarra. "I know darling, I have other things I would much rather be doing also."

Sarra stiffened slightly. Oops. Apparently her last thought she had accidentally used her Wild Magic to tell her mother, through her mind. That was the only disadvantage to having a Wildmage as a mother, she could always know where you were, in the same way that she can with animals. Except as of recently, she had been taught a spell to keep her mother from sensing her from far away.

"The queen and I welcome all of you pages to the city of Corus, and to your new home." King Jonathan said, taking his place at the head of the table. "Now, to introduce your new teachers. Numair Salmalin will be your magic teacher, for those who have the Gift." Numair stood up, his black robe billowing in the wind that wasn't there. Everyone in the Great Hall clapped, Daine and Sarra a little bit harder than the others. Sarra quickly scanned the crowd for her brother, Rikash. He was sitting at the far side of the room, sandwiched in between Alec and Sarra's best friend, Catharin of Dovani. He gave her a slight wave. Unable to really wave back, she gave him a nod and a big smile.

The ceremony droned on for about an hour more. It involved more clapping, some standing up and sitting down, and filing out of the hall in an orderly fashion. No sooner was she out of the hall than she did a quick Disappearance spell that transported her to the stables. Not more than five seconds behind her was her da, the black robe mage Numair Salmalin.

"Master Numair Salmalin," Sarra said, spreading her skirts wide and curtsying for him. "I am quite pleased to hear that you will be my teacher for this year." Sarra tried not to laugh at her fake mockery imitation.

"Oh, please," Numair said, relaxing a bit. "You would be surprised how many pages are like that on the first day. Last year, I even heard that they were daring each other to sit in the front row. That lasted until I made it so that there were an exact number of seats."

Sarra smiled to herself. "So," she said, changing the subject. "How did you know where I was gonna be, down here in the stables?" Numair laughed. "Where else do you go to talk and feel free?" Sarra immediately thought of her early morning flight, but definitely didn't want to tell her da that. "The same place as Ma," Sarra sighed, giving up on trying to outsmart her father.

"I actually followed you to see if you would help me." Numair finally admitted. "Tomorrow I have a whole new class of students and my classroom is a mess and I still have to finish the lesson plan." Sarra sighed. As much as she would rather be out here in the stable, or going for a ride, she knew she probably needed to help her da. After all, he had been a little preoccupied with testing her. "Sure," Sarra said. "Why not?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was late afternoon by the time Sarra had finished her father clean up his classroom. Surveying her work with a proud stare, she turned to ask her da if she could leave. Numair was sound asleep at his desk. Not wanting to wake him, Sarra called on her Gift. She would need a little bit more than usual, considering her father's large height. Sparkling turquoise fire spilt from Sarra's hand to surround his sleeping form. Concentrating on her parent's bed back in their chambers, Numair's sleeping form flared bright turquoise, and then was gone. Sarra smiled, satisfied. If all went right with her spell, (which it usually did) Numair wouldn't know that he even left his classroom. Of course, when he work up he would probably conduct a number of experiments to figure why all of the sudden he woke up in his bed. It would keep him occupied for a while, Sarra thought.

Sarra hurried to the door, and looked up and down the hall. No one was coming. This was a perfect opportunity. She hurried over to one of the large windows, and flung one open. Sarra took one deep breath, and there stood an eagle where the mage once stood. Sarra aimed her sharp eyes on the stable, and gently flew down in hopes that her mother was there, talking to the animals.

As she approached the stable, Sarra could feel that her mother wasn't there, but her brother Rikash was.

Rikash looked up in surprise when he saw a bird go flying up into the hayloft, but quickly realized it was his sister, going to where she kept an extra change of clothes for her shape changing.

Sarra's brown head popped up above the hay bales, and she quickly descended the ladder down to where the horses were kept. "Hey Rikash," Sarra said, "You looked positively thrilled during the page's breakfast." Sarra knew full well that her brother was dreading going back the next day to continue his training as a page. "Just be thankful that we're all gonna be here for a while, Ma and Da haven't left for anything, and we may be here for a few more months."

Rikash looked up at his sister with his big brown eyes. "I know," He said timidly. "But I still don't enjoy it." his eyes were pleading. "Would it be too much trouble to ask you if you could do that awake dream thing?"

Sarra smiled and nodded. Not long ago her mother had taught her to give animals (and those with wild magic) waking dreams. She motioned for her brother to take a seat on the hay bale, and she sat behind him. She felt her wild magic stir, which it always did when she drew some from her core. Concentrating on all the wonderful things her family did during the summer. Walking on the beach, visiting Pirate's Swoop, and having fun talking with all their relatives filled her mind. Sarra pushed all those memories into Rikash's mind, rooting it in there firmly with her Gift. Finally 'waking' up to reality, she nudged Rikash to wake him up. "You're not supposed to fall asleep dolt!" Sarra cried, and gave him a playful shove.

He looked up at her with sleepy eyes. "You know I can't stand all of this boring mage stuff. I'm glad I don't have that much Gift or wild magic. Otherwise, I would be bored all the time!"

Sarra smiled to herself. She always felt a little bad for her brother. His Da was one of the few Black Robe Mages in the world, His Ma was the Wildmage, and Sarra's power was as strong as both of their magic. Rikash didn't seem to mind though, but Sarra knew that in a couple of years it would probably start to bug him.

Suddenly, her mind split open like she had been cracked on the head. The stables spun, and the floor came up to meet her. Rikash rushed to his sister's side, trying to soothe her. "NO," Sarra sputtered, trying to get the world to right again. "Get Da." Rikash hesitated. Sarra gritted her teeth, attempting to get rid of the pain. "NOW!!!!!" she shrieked. Rikash scrambled to his feet and ran to find… anyone.

Sorry for such a cliffy. I needed to find a place to stop. I can't upload here at my house, but I save all my stories onto a flash drive and upload them at my grandma's. I will try to make it over there as often as possible, but you know how that goes. I love to bake cookies, so your reward for reading and reviewing will be rewarded with cookies and more chapters! Isn't blackmailing great!

I had extra time on my hands (I basically was procrastinating doing an assignment) and so I worked on this next chapter. It's a little bit confusing, and not as long as the other one, but hey, I've got lots of homework and my college class is killing me! Please be patient and as you know Read and Review for more chapters!

Disclaimer: You should know what it is by now. If not, then I won't even bother writing it because you obviously don't have the brain capacity. OK, I'm rambling. Enjoy the story.

Rikash scrambled up the slope to the castle thinking all the while I have to find Da. He'll know what's wrong with Sarra. He burst into their quarters, yelling "DA! Da where are you?"

Numair peered over his book, wondering what in the name of the Graveyard Hag his 10 year-old son was so worried about. "What is it Rikash?"

"I don't know!" Rikash cried before bursting into tears. "Sarra, she-like-collapsed and I don't know what's wrong!"

Daine, who had been listening in the doorway came over and gave Rikash a hug. "Are you sure she wasn't just playing a trick on you again?"

"Positive!" his voice came out in a whimper. "She was just fine and all of the sudden she was on the ground and she yelled for me to come get you."

The air where Numair was sitting shimmered sparkling black, and then he was gone.

"Gods curse it!" Daine hissed, dragging a sobbing Rikash out of the room and down the hall. "He loves to just use a Focus to disappear and leaves me here where I have to actually use my two legs to get there!" Had she been thinking straight, she would have realized that she could just fly, or shift to get there, but the uncertainty of her daughter's state kept her from doing so.

Arriving at the stable however, Daine was startled to realize that Numair was nowhere in sight. When he stepped out of thin air with Alanna, she knew he had gone to get a healer.

"S-sh-she's right t-there." Rikash said pointing a finger at where the crumpled body of his sister lay.

Alanna of Trebond and Pirate's Swoop knelt by the fallen mage, searching for a pulse. "She's alive," Alanna stated grimly. "But only just. Here Numair, carry her up to the infirmary."

Rikash, who had finally gotten his sobs under control watched with wide eyes as a trembling Numair picked Sarra up in his strong arms. Something must be really wrong if even Da is afraid. Rikash thought as he trudged after them on the way to the palace.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarra walked up a path toward a small cottage. Even though she had never seen it before, she felt like it was a place of comfort. When she got to the front door, she hesitated, not sure if she wanted to knock. Hearing voices, she went to investigate. Rounding the side of the house, she found herself staring at a man with antlers and olive streaked skin. He was seated at a table having lunch with a blond haired lady. The lady turned, her blond curls bouncing. She got up and walked toward Sarra with a look of irritated concern. "Sarralyn Salmalin! You should not be here right now! Your place is at home with your family." Then the man spoke. "Leave her be, Sarra. She couldn't control it." The lady stared at her. "Alright," she finally said, flapping a hand. "I'll make sure you get back home. Now begone!" Sarralyn found herself slowly sliding away from the scene, heading into the darkness.

"Shhhhhhh," a voice sounded by Sarra's ear. "I think she's waking up." Sarra opened her heavy eyes, trying to catch a hold on where she was.

Daine's worried face popped into Sarra's view. She pulled back one of Sarra's eyelids. "Where were you born?"

"Pirate's Swoop, in Tortall." Sarra answered weakly.

"Good," came another female voice. Alanna appeared next to Daine. "What is your full name?"

Sarra groaned inwardly. "Sarralyn Kally Beneskri Weirynsra Sarrasri Draper Salmalin."

"Well then," Alanna chuckled. "If the child can remember all of that then I think she's doing fine."

Sarra saw her mother roll her eyes at Aunt Alanna. Sarra struggled to sit up, and the room spun. Purple fire entered her veins, and the room came to a stop.

Numair came in the door and came to kneel by his daughter's head. "Are you all right?" he asked, plainly worried.

Sarra nodded yes while thinking of a conversation she had overheard between her mother and Thayet years ago. "I think having Sarralyn and Rikash was the best thing that ever happened to me." Daine had admitted. "Why is that?" Thayet had asked. "Now Numair worries about them all the time instead of me. I can finally breathe for the first time in 15 years.

Sarra now thought of that conversation while she lay in the infirmary. It was definitely the truth. Her father may have been the most powerful mage in the world, when it came to his family; he was always worried, and would take revenge on any who threatened his family.